Bush warns Taiwan against separation

President Bush said yesterday he opposes any efforts by Taiwan to
separate itself from communist mainland China, a statement that
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said "we very much appreciate."

"We oppose any unilateral decision by either China or Taiwan
to change the status quo," Mr. Bush said after a private meeting
with Mr. Wen during his official state visit to the White House. "The
comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may
be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the status quo,
which we oppose."

Chen Shui-bian, president of the Republic of China (Taiwan),
heightened tensions last week by announcing a ballot referendum on
March 20 asking voters whether they want to demand that China withdraw
hundreds of ballistic missiles aimed across the Taiwan Strait.

The Bush administration considers the referendum provocative and a
first step toward a full-fledged independence movement for Taiwan,
which has had free elections since 1991.

The "status quo" is a complicated "one-China policy,"
in which the United States is pledged to defend the quasi-sovereign
Taiwan if attacked by the mainland, but recognizes the view of the
People's Republic of China that the island is a "renegade
province."

The White House earlier this month dispatched a National Security
Council aide to Taipei in an effort to warn Mr. Chen against the
referendum idea, to little apparent effect.

A senior White House official stressed yesterday that the strong
rebuke of Mr. Chen does not change the U.S. commitment to come to
Taiwan's aid if needed. "We told the People's Republic of China
that if you try to use force or coercion against Taiwan, we will be
there," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Wen expressed his gratitude yesterday for Mr. Bush's strong
stance against the referendum, which the Chinese leader -- along with
senior members of the Bush administration -- dismiss as a ploy to help
Mr. Chen win a tough re-election battle next year.

"In particular, we very much appreciate the position adopted by
President Bush toward the latest moves and developments in Taiwan --
that is, the attempt to resort to referendum of various kinds as [an]
excuse to pursue Taiwan independence," Mr. Wen told reporters in
the Oval Office.

Mr. Wen said China would seek to settle its differences with Taipei
peacefully, "so long as there is a glimmer of hope" for
doing so. At a dinner meeting last night, Mr. Wen repeated his pledge
to seek peaceful unification. "However," he said, China's
quest for a peaceful solution "time and again has been challenged
by Taiwan separatists."

He called the defense of sovereignty and territorial integrity a
fundamental issue and referred to the American Civil War as an example
of a nation paying a high price to stay united.

Privately, Bush administration officials say they have been trying
to preserve the balancing act on Taiwan, opposing unilateral moves by
the island toward independence as well as any military attempt by
Beijing to reclaim Taiwan.

But the United States has felt compelled in recent days to offer a
more explicit warning against action by Taiwan, said a senior State
Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We've
been forced to react to steps taken by President Chen that seem to be
pointing toward independence," the official said.

Asked how Mr. Bush's opposition to an independent and democratic
Taiwan squares with his doctrine of spreading freedom around the
world, a senior White House official said the president hopes China's
economic freedom eventually will lead to political and religious
freedom.

"We are in no way abandoning the drive toward democracy,"
the senior administration official said. "Democracy is alive and
well in Taiwan, and the United States is in full support of it, and
the president supports freedom throughout the world."

James Lilley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
and former ambassador to China, said the president's comments against
the Taiwan referendum "maybe sounds pretty stark" but "we
didn't overwhelm them with our statement."

David M. Lampton, director of Chinese Studies at the Nixon Center
and a professor of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies, said, "Americans have to be a bit
modest" when it comes to advancing liberty in China.

Members and supporters of the Falun Gong, a religious group that has
been brutally oppressed in China, demonstrated across the street from
the White House yesterday as Mr. Bush was meeting with Mr. Wen.

In his address during the official welcoming ceremony, Mr. Bush
applauded Beijing for a "growth of economic freedom in China"
and said he hoped "that social, political and religious freedoms
will grow there as well."